c. 1750-1770
Accession #: 1998.0001
With most folding furniture constructed during the 18th century more emphasis is focused on how the chair works rather than the artistic or decorative arts aspects of the furniture. Such emphasis may not have been the case with this particular folding chair. This bishop’s chair is made of walnut with leather cushioned arms and seat. The pierced splat is decoratively adorned with a lattice design and leaf motif. Where the lattice work ends and meets at the top of the chair is an image of a cross. Above the cross is the top rail, or crest rail, which has a row of fleur-de-leis bordered by a row of leaves, and the ears of the chair ripple out with carved ridges. The chair has hinges on both sides to accommodate folding and carrying by the owner.
In the late 18th century, folding furniture was beginning to be made for travelling. Some chairs referred to as “folding chairs” did not actually fold, but were taken apart when transported. Folding furniture dates back to the ancient Greeks who had a folding stool which had “X” shaped legs and a leather seat. The owner’s status was reflected in the construction of these stools. There is also evidence of folding furniture found in Egyptian tombs.
The parlor of Wilton was where weddings, funerals, and christenings likely took place. It is quite possible that the visiting clergy may have used a chair similar to this one while officiating at these events. This type of chair may have evolved from the faldstool which was a portable chair stool that was taken with the bishop on his travels away from his own cathedral or place of worship. The faldstool became a ceremonial chair taken with the bishop and may have been covered with silk. It was used by most traveling clergy as early as the Middle Ages. According to one historian, “The bishop's chair is called a cathedra from the Latin word for chair and it is the presence of the bishop's cathedra in a church that makes it a cathedral. The bishop's chair, then is a symbol of the bishop's teaching office and pastoral power in his diocese.” The chair represented the authority to teach in ancient times.
It was common for ministers to do extensive travelling outside of their own church buildings and also to make visits to homes. In his book called Old Churches and Families of Virginia, Bishop Meade writes of a minister of the Bristol Parish in Dinwiddie County who “during his years of travelling, when he visited counties in North Carolina and Virginia,” was involved in “preaching in private homes.” Also in George Wythe Munford’s The Two Parsons: Cupid’s sports; The dream; and the jewels of Virginia, Parson Buchanan is visited by a gentleman, “…announcing himself as Col. Robert Braintree, of the county of Mecklenburg. After a few common-place remarks, he said, ‘I presume Mr. Buchanan, you have heard that I am about to be married to Miss Ingledon. I have called to request you to hold in readiness to perform the ceremony. It is to take place on Thursday evening next, at her mother’s residence, at eight o’clock.’” As was the case with some weddings, funerals and christenings also took place in the home. The Miss Ingledon mentioned by Munford is believed to be Miss Lucy Singleton, daughter of the late Captain Anthony Singleton and Lucy Harrison Singleton, widow of Peyton Randolph of Wilton.
Folding furniture was made for the convenience of travel. A chair such as this was made for traveling clergy who presided over weddings, funerals, and christenings extending beyond the bounds of their own church walls and into such homes as Wilton. This chair and its counterparts were a symbol of the authority the clergy had who carried it along on his journeys.
Bibliography
Aronson, Joseph. Encyclopedia of Furniture. 3rd rev. ed. New York: Crown Publishers Inc.,
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Giblin, James Cross. Be Seated: A Book about Chairs. Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.
Meade, Bishop. Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia. 2 vols. Philadelphia:
Lippincott Company, 1906.
Munford, George Wythe. The Two Parsons, Cupid’s sport; the dream; and the jewels of Virginia.
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<http://www.orlandodiocese.org/en/about-the-diocese/history/facts-about-bishops>
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